French back a ban on religious symbols at work

[The Straight Story]

31. Well, understood - but

If one of those people travel to a country that is say, mostly practices Islam like Egypt, to see the Nile and other things they will see many symbols of the predominant faith (and probably others).

Would such a person avoid going there to avoid seeing ancient history because of the symbols they will see around?

I get the oppression engaged in by faiths against others sucks ass and makes people leery, but am talking about how the symbols themselves impact a person.

We see churches all the time here, etc., which are symbols of a religion - how do people react driving past one? If you see a cross around someone's neck does it instantly bring up a fear that the person is going to harm them?

I loved your last line - it was spot on. And I hate fundies with a passion. And yes, the word hate may be strong but it is honest.

But I also love history and know that much of history focuses on the few who did the bad and not the many who did good -- examples of catholic priests helping out many over the world while their church leaders screwed over many are out there but no one talks about them because the ideals they hold.

I can see a lot of positive, but sometimes we have to look for it - and we can call out the negative as well.

When I was a kid growing up we heard a lot of bad about black people in this hood as well as gays. So our opinions were tainted by only hearing such (mine not so much because mom was a liberal and told me to treat others equal, but still for years I held certain ugly prejudices because most of what I heard was from people I respected at the time).

We can talk all day about the bad from religions, but I spend a lot of time reading small town papers (from usnpl.com) and time after time I see the churches helping the poor, homeless, sick, elderly, etc out. Every damn day.

If we focus on one, and not the other, we get biased - and maybe people want to hate something which is why such discussions get so many replies. Point out the good and people counter with 'yeah, but' (as I did in the title of this reply basically).

Jesus said it well - Seek and ye shall find. I would hope we would all seek the whole truth and not just the good or the bad.